The Eternal Battle, Yugioh Side
by Gamer816
Summary: A story, of ten worlds, a thousand battles, and the one boy chosen to decide the fate of them all. What will happen when our favorite characters have their worlds collide? Re-made due to bad chapter ordering, NOT complete, just trying for reviews.
1. Chapter 1

Description: Yes, this is all a product of my absolute insane imagination, and it will be continued for a long, long time.

(My POV (point of view))

Just one final push to do it.

If I could just put out one final effort I could put an end to all the suffering… to all the horrible pain that I have put so many people through. But I… I'm so tired. And I don't know if I can go on for much longer. My heart feels like it's breaking, and it might just be ready to finally shatter and take me out of my misery.

_A huge battlefield comes into view; dozens of bodies line the ground, all of them still bleeding. Within the field there is but one more person alive, standing in the middle of the carnage with a look of pain on his face. But this is no physical pain ailing him, the amount of pain on his face could only have come from some terrible tragedy. Around him the bodies begin to seep into the ground and vanish, and suddenly it is clear there was a huge battle here - the corpses have simply gone._

I guess I should start at the beginning though…

(No longer in a POV, Flashback)

_A young boy sits at his desk in a high school, calmly chatting back and forth with his nearby friend. He doesn't seem to have a single care in the world, but there is something off about him._

I was just a regular kid back then, I didn't have any cares in the world except my schoolwork and passing my tests. But I didn't really care about doing my work… I don't know why, but I just had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that nothing I did mattered. Not that I shouldn't do my best, but almost… like there was something better for me in the future. Like I had something far greater than simple schoolwork and eventual busywork in my future. I had no idea what was about to happen.

_The voice of the Narrator drops out, and you can hear the two boys talking._

"Yeah, I had the strangest dream last night. I was fighting this guy, and his whole body was cloaked, but when I looked at his face I couldn't see anything. It was… black. I had no idea who he was, but I felt like I knew him."

"I know, you told me about this dream before. And before that. And before that some more. I'm beginning to think that you're obsessed with this guy… you're not gay are you?"

_The young boy laughs and punches his friend on the shoulder, and they go back to talking about other things._

Looking back on it now, it seems like I should have realized who that person was so easily. But I didn't. I don't know if anything Would've been different even if I had, but I guess I'll never know. It probably wouldn't have any way, especially with how fast events were moving. The moment that changed my life was drawing closer with every minute.

_The time changes, and suddenly it is a young boy sitting in his bed._

It was this day, I remember what happened well. The friend I had been talking to was someone who I talked with a lot. Nothing big, just saying what we dreamt about to keep us amused during what little free time we had. And of course we took our favorite anime and video game characters and then we usually did funny little skits involving them, just made them up off the top of our head. That day, though, was when everything I had imagined would come crashing down on me.

If you will allow me to digress a little more, I must explain. You see, I have a very active imagination. Or so I thought anyway. I had imagined several things, including the dark figure that was always my enemy in my dreams it seemed. Even though I had no idea who he was, I had created him – or so I thought - so I knew him very well. He was much like me, only evil. He craved adventure, like I did, but craved power above all else. We fought often, in the worlds that I had long wished to be able to visit, and when one person won we moved onto the next world, until eventually it culminated in one battle, and the victor ruled over all the worlds. At least, until the loser was resurrected to restart the whole process.

And, somehow in my dreams and wildest fantasies, I had managed to join them. And soon, I would join them in a much more physical form.


	2. The Beginning of the End

Chapter 2: The re-telling of the beginning

Description: Yes, this is all a product of my absolute insane imagination, and it will be continued for a long, long time.

Disclaimer: Im only going to say this once in the ENTIRE fic series: I do not own anything in this storyline except for myself and the evil character you shall witness shortly.

And as another Disclaimer/Warning: DO NOT leave reviews whining about spoilers in this. The different worlds I shall be visiting WILL go through a good portion of their stories, which means I will be putting in many plot elements and such. If you really have to, skip the worlds you don't want to see. None of them will be relevant to one another for the MOST part, except for perhaps… Naruto, maybe? I haven't made up my mind about specific plot events in the later worlds, but that's a story for later. Of course, in the final battle everything is relevant so you may miss out on some of that. Better than having you whine about spoilers though…

_~Beginning Story~_

I'm sorry, I must have drifted off into thought again. It seems all I can do now is keep reliving what happened only minutes ago. But I can't tell you that right now, it would make no sense without the background to this. Now… where was I in my story…

It was later that night, after I had told my friend for probably the hundredth time about the dark figure masquerading around in my dreams, fighting against me at every turn, that everything started going horribly, horribly wrong, and twisting my very views of reality.

I was laying awake at well past midnight, twisting and writhing in my sheets. Nothing was going the way things normally do; the laying there for a few minutes before finally drifting off, the fighting, the waking up, and then going off to my dull every day life, which I hated with every fiber of my being. When I finally did drift off around midnight, I found that my dreams were no adventure… they were carnage. Strange scenes of murder and killing, thousands dying before the onslaught of a beastly, uncivilized figure who was not yet revealed to me underneath his dark black cloak, taking over the entire world as it was literally coated in red, the demonic figure possessing enough power to change the world's color... but that was probably just because this was a dream, or rather… a nightmare.

But, in the midst of the dark and blood red world, a small pinpoint of light emerged from exactly the place on the globe where my city was located in the United States… and then it started to grow. No, the whole globe was growing. Wait, it wasn't growing, it was only coming in to a closer view of the place.. There was nothing more than a small boy standing in the middle of it, until he changed. His form shifted, and he became someone else before I could even recognize him. But somehow, he didn't seem like someone else. He seemed like the same person, just changed. It wasn't a different person at all, just another power of the boy and a very natural one to him, no doubt. And then, the people started to gather around him.

Civilians, people who lived on Earth looking at me with amazement… and some who had never lived there, terrible monsters and beasts from the far corners of the deepest, darkest pits of hell. They tore through civilians as they closed in on the boy, causing the civilians to stop staring and run for their lives.

And then I put my hands out to my sides, and the light grew, and grew, and **grew** until it started to push back the blood red, raging beasts as the circle's space grew. As the circle grew, it became obvious that it was not just a weapon, but a summoning. It brought forth hundreds of the greatest heroes I had long looked on with envy and desire to fight with them.

And I was their leader.

Now rather than a nightmare the dream was becoming more like my usual, because now the only slaughter was of the villains who had taken over the Earth. And I could see that there were quite a few of them, all the counterparts to the heroes I had summoned, their arch-nemesis. They were all fighting against my army… no, I couldn't even say they were my army, because we were no man's. We were only a force of good, brought together to fight against the evil summoned there.

As it showed the whole world again I could see the red on the globe was still there, but now it was retreating. Heading back for the opposite side of the globe from where we had just seen me. But then, as exactly half of the world was light and half was the red blood color that was being used to show the hooded man's rule, the growth stopped. It stayed like this for some time, and then the view panned in again to the dead center of Europe, where it showed yet another battle scene.

This time though I could recognize the figures. Now I could make out individual people from my favorite shows and anime, and I could see them fighting against their counterparts from the show. Luke versus Anakin from star wars, Eragon versus Murtagh from the Eragon books, even Naruto versus the evil Sasuke at one point. But above all I could see myself and the dark figure fighting.

We were both "changing" for lack of a more descriptive term, and constantly during the fight our tactics would change on the fly. One minute we were flying in the sky, hitting each other with energy blasts straight out of Dragonball Z, the next we were sending small metal objects hurtling towards each other imitating Naruto. At one point there was even a scene where we pulled out decks of cards and had Yu-gi-oh monsters fight for us, narrowly avoiding being hit by them at some points. Clearly we were using all the powers we had gained being around the others fighting with us… and then it happened.

I caught the man off guard and slashed forward with a blade, and cut the hood off at the very top of it, just enough that it fell down around the man's head to his shoulders. And it was me. At least, it had the same features as me. But he was… totally, utterly, black. And not any natural, but literally the color black. His clothes, his hair, the "whites" around his eyes, his actual eye color, everything right down to his shoelaces was colored black I could see now as he ditched the robe for one final battle with me. Then I realized what it looked like to me, it was exactly like Kingdom Hearts' Shadow Sora in the game. It was my evil twin… maybe not literally but he was essentially me, pure evil. I could think of no better way to describe him.

And then suddenly we both yelled loudly, charging up some kind of energies into our fists. And we ran forward as they began glowing, and just as we clashed a bright and blinding light covered the battlefield and time seemed to pause while I was unable to see anything. A voice came out of nowhere, speaking in hushed tones that I could barely hear. I missed most of it, but I did catch a few key words.

You have chosen… path of… now you… destiny… find your own path…

WAKE UP

As if on command, when I heard the words I shot up in my bed and almost hit the headboard on the way up I was so focused, but then I began to think what had just happened. I had never had a dream like that… and then suddenly I had no more time to think because I was leaning over the side of my bed, feeling like I was going to puke. And sure enough I didn't wait very long. But… this was different. There was no acid, no food, just pure blackness coming out. It covered a small part of the floor as the rest came out, burning my mouth though there was no acid to speak of in it. Then when I finally thought that I could take no more, I stopped and rolled back into bed, curling up into the fetal position and shivering. It had been quite painful the whole time and something felt… different inside me. Empty.

I rolled over perhaps a minute later because I couldn't get comfortable on my side of the bed and I saw a shocking sight. The black… whatever it was… had moved together and was slowly forming itself into a shape. As I watched in horror, it slowly manifested itself into the dark figures from the dream… my evil twin had come into reality. And I had a bad feeling he wasn't here to just say hello.

Author's Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The third one is just ahead!


	3. Beginnings of a Drizzle

EDIT NOTE: Sorry about that guys, but I put up the wrong edit and it had 12 worlds instead of 10.

I honestly didn't know how I should've felt at that moment. A thousand emotions and thoughts were swimming around in my head, all of them insignificant compared to the one big thing that I was feeling at that moment; excitement. Maybe I wasn't crazy, maybe something really was possible for me other than a boring, dull life. But that didn't stop me from being overwhelmingly confused. "What… how… why… The hell is going on here?" I said, stuttering as… I, he, or however I should have addressed him let out only the most sinister cackle and evil sneer I have ever seen.

"Oh come on, you can't tell me you haven't felt it… that feeling that nothing in this world matters? The one that makes you feel so empty you want to kill yourself? But you know deep down inside… you just want to kill your life, and move on to a new one. You see… you are rather special D.J. No matter how much life has assaulted you and no matter how much pressure there is on technology and science or even a religion of your choosing to dominate your life and beliefs… you have always stood by the dreams of your childhood. Bleck." My twin said, spitting out something as dark as him into the trash bin near my doorway. "All this pretty little goody-two-shoes talk is starting to make my mouth hurt for even having said it." He said, before walking over to the door and leaning against it rather loudly.

"What does that have to do with anything…" I said suspiciously, moving around to the exact opposite side of the room from him in an attempt to get away from him. There was something… wrong with him, a feeling of dread I got as though Mother Nature herself could not believe that some way or another she had created this… thing. "Something like this can't just happen out of nowhere."

The duplicate couldn't hold it back any more and laughed with a voice that I thought was loud enough to wake the dead, and he simply continued talking. "I know that you don't believe that. You see… true belief never really exists, except in you for some reason. You may not have always believed in it one hundred percent - no man alive can carry on without doubt - but just having that glimmer of hope in the darkest of times was enough for you to change your destiny from ordinary, to extraordinary… you see, that power was enough for you to expel the evil from your body… and create ME. Your greatest fantasy, someone who can provide you with the greatest battle ever known."

It was true… despite my earlier comment I always kept the beliefs considered absolutely insane by everyone else in the world tucked away in a corner of my mind. And it was also true that, although having a being of pure evil come into being wasn't exactly a good thing, I had always somehow wanted the battles to happen, because that was the only way I would get to experience the fantastic battles and adventures I had so often dreamt of…

"So, as I was saying, even when you truly wanted to give up and be normal you would not allow yourself to think for even a second that these powers and such things weren't real… so the greatest powers in the universe, and even from other universes, are backing us up. They can't intervene themselves in mortal affairs… I know you know all this, but you seem to be rather… shocked at the moment so I think I have to beat it into you." He grinned after that, and I loathed him even more for that. "To intervene with their almighty powers would be to destroy all that is living in the shockwaves from such a massive battle. So… each of us has our own backing force. Together, they have the power to bestow upon us their magnitude of powers. We will become like them, if only slightly weaker… so that we may do battle for them, to save all in existence… or plunge that existence into darkness in my case." I knew exactly what he wanted to do… but he had just said to our agreements, which meant that another thing I had dreamt about may very well be turning out true.

"But… then how do they intend to give us those powers?"

The semi-clone of me sitting across the room only smirked at my question. "With this…" he said patiently, and pulled out a large scroll from what could only be described as a hole in space. "A contract forged by the mightiest powers ever gathered. And we are to write out the rules of the battle on this and how it is to be played out. And then the fun begins."

Ignoring him, I numbly picked up a pen and began to write on the paper, placing it on a desk and writing quickly but neatly. I knew that, as a part of me, we would both want the same thing. Besides, I know that there would only be one way to write this document up, the way I had dreamt about it.

I lost all track of time as I wrote. For all I knew, days were passing while I was slaving away at the contract. But I no longer cared, for I was writing as if possessed. To fulfill my greatest ambitions, and soon gain powers that would be rivaled by no man… but for some reason even the lust for adventure had died down in me. Or rather, being powerful and almighty was not something I desired. I felt no desire to be more powerful than someone else. Despite that though, my desire to go on amazing adventures and my ever-living lust for battle was inspiring me to write. In fact though I was a little too inspired, as every time I got too far in the contract I changed my mind and had to go back, though as if by a miracle my ink simply disappeared when I wished it to, as if the contract itself wanted to be absolutely perfect. Although after all I had been through, this was hardly the most abnormal thing.

By the time my hand finally stopped moving, nearly all of the paper was filled out. I stepped back and my evil twin stepped forth, picking it up and reading it aloud as if he didn't already know perfectly well what it said.

"This contract, hereby referred to as The Reality Contract, shall bestow upon those two who sign their names at the bottom first unlimited potential. It will grant them the ability to travel between all dimensions, and in doing so gain the powers of those who reside their. But no powers shall be used by these immediately. Instead, all powers shall be locked away until such a time as the signers have trained and learned such abilities. In addition, ten universes only shall be listed below, and these shall become the battlegrounds for the greatest battles. The two signers, one being of a good and pure heart and the other being of an evil heart, shall train and live in these dimensions until they have gained sufficient power and allies to destroy one another. The pattern shall repeat until all ten have been won or lost by one side or the other. When all is over, a new dimension shall be created. Within this, all allies of both signers shall be summoned and will do battle with each other. Whomsoever wins this battle shall gain control over these dimensions, and may influence them towards the path of light or darkness. After ten years have passed in all worlds, the battles will commence again, each time repeating this pattern."

The contract was a higher power than anything before, nigh on unbreakable by anything but a higher power than even itself. And now was the time to finish it.

This time though, my evil twin stepped forth instead. "No, I will be the one to finish it." He muttered, and then grabbed the pen from my hand roughly and wrote down just as fast as I had the names of ten dimensions. Though, they were not dimensions that were new to me by far. Instead, they were the most amazing places I **HAD **heard of before. I was regaining my sense of self, and I knew the truth; man was far less ingenious than he thought. No man had ever truly "created" any ideas about other worlds; all games, books, movies, anything from another universe only came to man because they already existed.. Hundreds more would eventually be "created" by men, only because all worlds truthfully desire to exist as one. But all this is a side story… back to the matter at hand.

When I next looked down I could see what he had written in a row on the contract.

Yu-gi-oh

Zoids

Fire Emblem

Kingdom Hearts

Final Fantasy VII

Star Wars

Eragon

Naruto

Bleach

Dragon Ball Z

And suddenly, without any warning or reason at all, a light began to grow from the contract, engulfing the entire room, blinding me from all except the dark figure of my evil twin that invaded my sight even after I was blinded. He then smirked and let out a sentence I only just barely heard.

"First stop… world of Yu-gi-oh."


	4. First Drops of Rain

As I finally wound up being able to see again, I was in a totally different place. It was strange… I was now in some strange outfit, it looked like a bit of clothing nobody would ever consider wearing. The jacket was a slightly off-red color, maybe a touch darker, but whatever it was gave it a very odd look. It had a strange collar, opening up about three-fourths of the way up the chest as if it was trying to show the person wearing it off on purpose. Luckily I also had a plain white spandex t-shirt underneath that covering it up, and I had to admit the shirt was very comfortable. I even had a new hair style, my brown hair having been spiked up slightly, and although I never let my hair get very far down it was long enough that it added two inches or so to my height when spiked, and I thought it looked good myself. And the jeans that I was wearing weren't exactly rough either… and even though I was a plain dresser there were a few extra touches to the outfit I didn't mind.

For one thing, the sleeves had two golden wings drawn from the tips of the sleeves almost all the way up to the shoulders, which were an amazing piece of artwork and obviously not done by me as I have zero drawing skills, but they didn't seem drawn on quite as they actually bulged out from the sleeve... but I could feel them on my arms and they were nothing but cloth… strange. Yet still stranger was the golden necklace hanging down from my neck, with a large pendant hanging on the chain with a soaring eagle on it. I also noticed that it had a large button on the center of it… perfect. Looking around, I saw that I was in the middle of the sidewalk in a rather crowded city area, and all around me there were skyscrapers and off in the distance… monsters fighting in the middle of the park.

At first I struggled to figure out where I was, but then suddenly the memories of everything that had happened directly before the flash of light came to me. I was in the Yu-gi-oh land!

I tried to remain calm; as excited as I was at this actually happening this was nearly impossible, as I brought all my wits to think about what this meant and what my plan of action for the future was. I thought about it for a few seconds and came up with the basics to lay out my plan on; I was in Battle City, obviously, and if I was right then this outfit I was in would be the powers I needed in this dimension as per the contract… the powers in this dimension being not so much powers as simply a duel disk and my cards from home. Then there was only one more thing… the ability to duel in the Shadow Realm at will, even without a millennium item. That would be my greatest ally in taking on the evil bastard that had spawned from me.

But as for what I was actually going to do…

Obviously in order to fit myself and my evil twin into the picture there would've been a few key modifications to the dueling plans. For one thing, there would be extra people than had even been seen in the show in the tournament, people in order to make it so that there were now ten contestants instead of eight in the final rounds once the blimp took off… but that was the point. I couldn't think too much about the future, as I couldn't reveal to anyone there, yet, everything that I knew and everything that had happened to drag this world into the conflict that had come from within me. Not yet, they would think I was insane… the power of the evil gathering in this very city had to be witnessed firsthand.

I knew that I couldn't interfere in any of the events that the Pharoah and his friends, Kaiba, or even Marik would be going through even at that very moment, which I could imagine was just before the tournament started, because there would be no telling what would happen if I did. Without any interference the duels would turn out exactly as they had in the show, which would eventually lead to the same conclusion of Marik being turned good instead of evil, the Pharoah winning the tournament, and Marik's dark side being thrown into the shadow realm… but unfortunately, that still left me with how to deal with my own dark side.

I couldn't count on him to leave the storyline to its original progress, especially since he wouldn't want the duels to turn out the way they had in the story. The only way to win in this world would be to, since for now we would only be fighting in the Battle City portion of the world's story, have Marik be defeated and his shadow self plunged into darkness once and for all, and my dark side purged from this realm and into shadows. The ways to lose were… more numerous. If the Pharoah was killed, or if I was, then most likely the battle would be lost. Unless someone else could defeat Marik of course, which actually seemed semi possible since in the show Joey had even managed to somehow come within one attack of defeating Marik… so close, and yet he still lost… if I could find a way to make sure that didn't happen again though, then we would be very close to having it won. But back on track, of course if Marik or my darkside gained the millennium puzzle even without defeating or killing yugi then we would have to win it back… I guess there was no other way. The only end in this world, and as much as I hated to admit it probably in all the other worlds as well, would be to kill my evil twin and foil the plans of the main villains.

But for now I had to figure out what I needed to do right then and there. "Now… If I were my evil twin, what would my first move to take over the world be…" I said out loud, though luckily quietly enough that nobody heard me. I was actually finding it hard to picture being my evil twin, as suddenly all my desires and urges, even imaginary thoughts of doing something that could be considered evil in any sense of the world was gone… it seemed like my evil twin had taken the evil out of me to form himself, quite literally… I was truly a servant of good now. But although that was proving to be a problem, thankfully I was able to put together a half-decent impression of him, since he shared my personality if only more evil, and figure out what would likely happen.

Since he had at least an inkling of what happened in the show he would likely do something that would catch the attention of the Rare Hunters eventually, in an attempt to get to Marik. And that would mean flashing off a rare card or two in a duel. Luckily Marik wouldn't be in Battle City yet, so I had plenty of time to secure my own spot in the tournament.

Suddenly a hand touched my own, and I looked up from being deep in thought to find myself looking directly into the eyes of Yugi Mouto and company in the flesh. I let out a yell, as I suddenly kicked off and flipped the entire bench I was sitting on over and landed on the pavement on the other side of where I had been sitting on headfirst. Joey and Tristan immediately went into a fit of laughter, and even Yugi looked a bit confused by my reaction, whereas I was just lucky enough that the nearby Tea was actually being kind and trying to help me back up, even though I could clearly see her stifling back giggles.

"So much for not interfering with the storyline…" I thought to myself, as I grasped Tea's outstretched hand and pulled myself to my feet. But… there was a slight problem with what I was seeing… Tea, Tristan, Joey, and Yugi weren't together a lot of the time during the tournament. They split up in various ways… and that meant that, since I knew I was at the beginning of the tournament, I had caught them just shortly after they had left with Joey and Yugi's duel disks!

"Hey, sorry about laughin' at ya, we're just tryin' to figure out which way the hospital is. Do you have any idea?" Joey said, nearly dancing around on the spot from his excitement to get to his destination… or maybe just from laughing at me hurting myself on the inside.

"Joey, your sister gave you directions a few minutes ago and you already forgot them?!" Tea said, and I could see Yugi and her both sigh at the same time as Joey rubbed the back of his head.

About a thousand thoughts rushed through my head at the same time. What was going to happen to Joey, how he would lose his favorite card. But suddenly, Joey opened his mouth before I could say anything. "Oh yeah, I remember now!" He said, before dashing off across the street towards a group of taller buildings off in the distance.

"Hey, wait a second!" I yelled, and Joey came to a skidding halt, turning around and looking at me funny. But then I remembered what would happen later… Joey would be controlled by Marik, and the Red eyes would be won back by Yugi before that and be used to help save Joey… I had to make a call right here and right now. I could either take my chances and interfere in the story directly, or I could let things play their course… but… no, I couldn't do that. My twin would be interfering heavily in order to screw up everything I knew about the show. And that meant… I couldn't let this happen, even if it meant taking a huge risk. Because taking that risk was certainly better than having something horrible happen. One duel gone wrong because of something my evil twin did could mean the death of one of the main characters, or even an innocent…

"Hey, listen, I think I know a better way, follow me!" I yelled, running down a side alleyway as Joey, Yugi, and his friends began following me down the path, one which was undoubtedly a much longer path, even if only because I had no idea where I was going, but at least it would keep Joey away from the Exodia Rare Hunter... I had made my decision. Now it was time… I had declared open war on Marik and my evil twin. The battle was on, the only thing left to do was see how all the pieces began falling one by one. I only hoped the pieces that fell were his…


	5. I Need an Umbrella

Here's the next chapter: and the first duel!

~~A few minutes or so after the end of the previous chapter~~

"Are you sure this is a shortcut?"

I had heard Joey's call from behind me, as we ran to god only knows where since I had absolutely no clue where I was going. But I didn't want to seem like a TOTAL idiot so I decided to pretend like I had at least held some sort of clue as to where I was going. Not that I would seem like an idiot to many, as Yugi, Tea, and Tristan had all split off from the group to go wherever it was they went in the show… I couldn't remember that, as I had seen the episode maybe once and I didn't even recognize what it was. A hotel maybe…

"Er… you see… I usually forget where the shortcut goes from here… but you know where the hospital is, you take the lead." In truth, I was totally lost and he would have to take us to wherever the hospital was. I was just glad that I had led him into another alleyway and, hopefully, away from where the Rare Hunters were.

But that hope turned out to be crushed as Joey turned us and we started sprinting down another alleyway towards a tall building not all too far off, but still a good run. I was just glad I had finally started working out back in my own world, which was at least giving me the strength to keep up with Joey as nearly impossible as that was even for me now since he was extremely impatient to get to his sister, but I wouldn't have to run much longer… because suddenly a cloaked and hooded figure appeared in the path before us. "That son of a… he must have followed us here somehow!" I thought, as Joey began yelling at the man.

"Excuse me! Hey, whats the big idea? Outta my way, im in a hurry!" It was just like in the actual series… but if I had my way it wouldn't end the same way.

"YOU won't be going anywhere for awhile."

"Whatt'you freaks want with me?"

The Rare Hunter laughed. "You're a feisty little one, aren't you Joey Wheeler? I see you've never met a Rare Hunter, we stalk our prey and take what we desire. In this case, your Red Eyes Black Dragon. Now, prepare to duel for it!"

"How'd you know about my Red Eyes? Look, just step aside."

"If you want to leave in one piece, I suggest you do as we say and duel!"

"You're not giving me a choice are you? Then I guess in that case, I-"

"Hey, don't even think about it!" I yelled, and I saw Joey turn around mid-sentence to face me. "Listen, I don't know why you want to go to that hospital, but I know it must be pretty important if you have to rush down there, I can guess pretty easily that someone needs you." All this was a lie, I wasn't guessing and I knew why he wanted to get there. But I wasn't going to let him be late this time, and he wasn't going to lose his Red Eyes…

"Let me duel him. I can take him on while you get to the hospital. Don't even let them stop you, just go!" I yelled, and he looked at me for a second before he nodded and started running towards them.

"Wait just a minute, I don't even know you! We have come for the Red Eyes, and we won't accept some cheap imitation duelist!"

I frowned at that. "Don't you ever insult my dueling skills again. If you want a rare card, then how about this one?" I said, reaching into my deck and pulling out my favorite, and rarest, card. I saw the look on his face; it was a card that, at least I thought, hadn't even been around during the Battle City Tournament part of Yu-gi-oh… of course I could've been wrong, I hadn't kept track of the storyline and real-life card games… not that I could say they were two different things now, after all I was living it, and loving every minute of it.

"How did someone like you get your hands on such and amazing card? I have never even seen that before! Very well… first I take your card, and then Wheeler's!" He said, as he pulled out his duel disk and both of us prepared, as Joey ran off towards the hospital in the distance. "Okay… hope this is what I think it is…" I said, as I pushed the button on my pendant. But suddenly, instead of letting me pull a duel disk out of some hole in space as my evil twin had with the contract, I felt my arms began to tingle. Looking around I suddenly noticed that the sleeves I was wearing were letting off a golden glow, and out of nowhere the wing on my left sleeve turned from cloth into what I could only guess was solid gold, as it formed into a wing-themed duel disk out in front of me. It shined in the moonlight and twinkled with the light reflected from the stars, brilliant even in such dark lighting as we were in. "Well… that was unexpected." Was all I could say, before my opponent and I both said the words that would be the first decider of this world's fate.

"Duel!"

Life Points:

DJ: 4000

Rare Hunter: 4000

I drew my hand of five cards and looked at them quickly; each and every one of them having its own effect and ability as I knew very well, having nearly memorized the exact readings of a few cards and knowing the general effects of every single card in it. I drew another card to start off my turn and looked at it; I had a good hand, and I was off to a good start… but I didn't have what I was actually going to need to defeat him, at least yet… I would have to hope for a good draw or two in the next turn or I was finished if he drew the Exodia cards as fast as I knew he was going to…

"Since you stopped me from dueling my original target, I think I will take the first turn!" He said, drawing a card from his deck. That wasn't good… if he got the first move then that meant he would get to his cards sooner… I had to act fast or I was going to lose for sure! "I lay one monster face-down in defense mode, and end my turn."

"I'll start my turn by playing Lady Ninja Yae in attack mode, and I'll lay two cards face down!" I said, as my ninja appeared on the field, along with the face-down indicators of my two trap cards… they weren't anti-attack traps, oh no. They would serve the purpose of opening up my opponent's defense… so that I could bring out my secret weapon.

Lady Ninja Yae:

ATK: 1100

DEF: 200

"And now, I activate Lightning Vortex!" I said, as suddenly a virtual cloud appeared over his side of the field. "By discarding one card from my hand…" I said, as I moved one card from my hand to the graveyard section of my wing-duel disk. "I can destroy the monster on your side of the field!" Suddenly, lightning struck and the monster underneath the card icon suddenly appeared, a strange blue beast covered in spikes. It was destroyed as fast as it was revealed, and my opponent's field was left bare.

"Ha, wasting a card just to destroy my monster? You are more of a fool than I thought!" The Rare Hunter said, before laughing at me.

"I told you… never to insult my dueling skills…" I said, anger starting to build up at this man. I could've simply summoned the Shadow Realm into the duel to make sure that he wouldn't bother us again… but I no longer felt the need to strike out simply because I was angry. It was strange… I no longer held the desire to inflict pain even to someone who continually insulted me. But of course, that wouldn't stop me from winning the duel in _this_ realm. "And now, my ninja, attack his life points directly!"

The good lady on my side of the field leapt forth, slashing through my opponent with her knife as his life points decreased, down to less than three-fourths of their previous value. I was off to a good start, now I had to follow through.

"So what do you think of my dueling skills now?"

The Rare Hunter simply ignored my comment, though I saw him frown at it if only ever so slightly, as he drew and played his card.

"The Graceful Charity card allows me to draw three new cards…" He said, as he drew his three cards. I had forgotten about that, if he drew too many more cards then my turns were going to be in a limited number, and he would claim my rarest card! "Just what I needed… my deck is filled with surprises! And soon, I'll be adding both you and your friend's cards to my collection!" He finished even while he was playing yet another monster in defense mode.

"Is that all you've got? Really?" I said, smiling as I drew my next card. Perfect… a card that would help me finish this duel. "I play Reckless Greed!" I yelled as I activated my Trap Card from my hand. "It's effect allows me to draw two more cards, at the expense of my next two Draw Phases!" I said, as I picked up my next two cards. "Well, say goodbye to whatever you were planning, hunter." I said, as I immediately played one of the two cards I had drawn. "Its Card Destruction. Im sure you can guess what the concept is from its name? We both discard our entire hands and re-draw the same number from our decks." I said, as I discarded the measly two cards I had in my hand.

As we both discarded our hands I could clearly see him in a bit of shock from what had just happened, seeing as how I had probably rid him of the three or four Exodia cards he had in his possession. He didn't seem to happy about his draw either, so even though I knew he had multiples of the cards in his decks he obviously hadn't drawn any of them, or perhaps only one. "And that's not where it stops! I activate both of my face down cards! I said, pushing the buttons beneath them as their virtual representations flipped over and glowed with the light of activation. "One is Call of the Haunted, which lets me revive the monster I discarded earlier to activate Lightning Vortex, my Harpie Lady 1!"

Harpie Lady 1

ATK: 1300

DEF: 1400

"And my other card is Ninjitsu Art of Transformation! It lets me swap out my Lady Ninja Yae for any monster with level stars equal to hers plus three or less, which means I can bring any Level 6 or lower Monster from my deck that I want" I said, as I pulled out my deck and searched for what I was looking for. "Perfect, thanks to my trap card I summon the sister of my first card, Harpie Lady 2!" With both of my winged monsters on the field I knew that the duel was almost over… and I was on the winning side. "And thanks to the effect of my first Harpie Lady, all Wind monsters on the field gain a bonus of 300 attack points!"

Harpie Lady 1

ATK: 1600

DEF: 1400

Harpie Lady 2

ATK: 1600

DEF: 1400

"Harpie Lady 1, take out his face-down monster!" I yelled as my monster screeched and flapped into the sky, winged talons raking across the man's card and destroying it, a weird looking, mostly green monster with red claws and masks on being destroyed, although only by a couple hundred Defense points.

"And now, my second Harpie, attack his life points directly!" My second monster charged into actions, dive-bombing my opponent and taking out another large chunk of his life points.

Life Points:

DJ: 4000

Rare Hunter: 1300

"So, are you done trying to beat me yet?"

"No, not quite. I play Graceful Charity again."

"What, you think that'll do you any good? You need that many cards?"

"Yes, a good hunter must acquire strong hounds to replace the weak ones. So I discard two old cards, draw three new ones, and play one card in defense mode."

"Fine, my turn. Are you ready for this?" I said, drawing my next card. I didn't actually need it, as I had everything I would need to end this duel once and for all in my hand, but it was the rule of the game so I may as well. "You know, the card I show you may be my rarest… but its not necessarily the strongest in my deck by a whole lot. I want to show you… my Harpie's pet Dragon!"

Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon:

ATK: 1200

DEF: 600

"What, is that supposed to scare me? Your monster is pathetic! It won't even be able to get through my defenses!" He said, obviously not scared of it since he had at least revealed his monster's defense was above 1200.

"Ah, but you see, for every card on the field that has Harpie in its name other than Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon itself, it gains an effect! And when two cards are on the field, then the power of my card doubles!" I said, as the hunter looked rather shocked at the revelation. He knew as well as I did that this duel was over.

Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon:

ATK: 2400

DEF: 1200

"Now, Harpie Lady 1, attack his face down monster!" I yelled, as my monster dive bombed the card and destroyed it before I could even see what monster was underneath it. "And now… my dragon… destroy his last life points!" My dragon roared and breathed forth a huge amount of fire, engulfing my opponent and destroying the remaining life points.

"No, how could I lose?!?! You weren't supposed to be able to beat me, I have the rarest of cards, Exodia!"

"Speaking of which, since you were after my rare card I think its only fair that I take something of yours…" I said, and as I walked closer to his form, down on his knees now from the shock of defeat, I saw something that was of far more use to me than a rare card. But I had to have a reason, and I knew something about him that would give me the reason to take the thing I was after and prevent him from doing any more harm in the tournament. "I'll just take your…" I began, reaching over and grabbing his deck, looking through them with interest at first, but then something black started to rub off on my fingers. "Hey, wait a second! There's ink on all these cards, they're all fake… you cheater! I think I will have to pay you back for this!" I yelled, as I ripped his entire deck into multiple pieces and threw it into the wind. "You try to take other's cards and then don't even give them a fair chance to defend themselves because you cheat? You don't belong in the duelist world, and certainly not in this tournament. I think to be fair, I will take this from you!" I said, taking the locator card from the pocket in his side.

"Now… I have a friend to catch up to, so why don't you just stay here and think over-" But before I could finish my sentence, suddenly he started twitching around, as the millennium symbol appeared on his forehead. I knew what was happening, and who was responsible. There was only one thing left to do… make my intentions clear.

"So, you managed to defeat one of my minions. I have no idea who you are, but I know that you must be friends with Wheeler and his friend, the Pharoah. If you want to remain sane and in one piece, I suggest you stay out of my way from now on. I promise you, if you dare challenge me again I promise you that my next minion will crush you!"

"Well, **I **know who **YOU **are, _Marik_." I said, and I knew that if the puppet could look shocked it probably would have. "And I know why you are in this tournament, so I can assure you of one thing; I will not be staying out of your way. In fact… I'll be one of the biggest obstacles in your path."

"So be it."

The puppet suddenly crumpled, and I slowly began to walk off towards the direction that, I hoped, I would be able to find the hospital in. As the duel disk began to fade, I also noticed something in the disk that I just barely managed to pull out before it was totally a wing on my sleeve again. It was a locator card… amazing. I guess it had been put there in case I didn't win one before the tournament started… a great beginning. The tournament hadn't even started yet and I already had two of the locator cards I would need. Things were looking up even more than they had when I first got my powers… and just then, the realization, of everything that had happened to me and everything that would, or at least what I knew for absolute certain that was going to happen which I admit wasn't much, finally kicked in to me. I was finally here… I was in another world. I had been granted powers beyond my wildest dreams… powers which would only be used for good. But… all my dreams of fighting side by side with the greatest heroes ever, they would all come true!

Out of sheer excitement, I began _sprinting_ down the street off in the direction Joey had gone.


	6. Preparing for a Thunderstorm

~~A few minutes after the end of the last chapter~~

I felt the wind rushing past my body as I ran through the streets, almost faster than I ever had before. I could barely contain myself, after all; this was what I had always wanted. To finally be here the place I had always dreamt of I could think of nothing else that would make me happier. And looking down at the pocket I kept my dueling deck in, since my Duel Disk seemed to disappear whenever I wasn t actually dueling, I could think of nothing that had ever seemed more out of my grasp than this. But it was all coming true, and I now had all the reason to believe that even the parts that hadn t come yet would resemble those parts that had long ago invaded my dreams.

As I burst through the hospital doors I could see that Yugi and Co. were all standing around, more likely than not having just gotten out of Serenity s room. Seeing them all smiling made me happy I was here things like Joey being late for his own sister s eye surgery put too much misery into stories for all those involved. It was my job to make sure that nobody had to go through such misery wherever I went. Hey I said, not able to get out the rest of the sentence for sheer exhaustion. Even in my shape, running that far at a full-on sprint was bound to leave you sore at the end of a trip. Did you find who you were looking for? I panted, directing the question at Joey.

He turned to face me and gave a thumbs-up sign. Oh yeah! And it was just in time too, her operation was supposed to start about five minutes after I got there. I owe ya big time for lettin me go to the hospital instead of having to duel that creep.

Yugi didn t look so relieved though. Yeah, but I m a little worried that they might still come after you Joey. If you still have your Red Eyes, won t you just be a target?

Joey just grinned and pumped his fist in the air. Oh yeah, bring those creeps on! I coulda taken that guy if I hadn t been in a rush to get here! Next one that comes along is gonna get twice the butt-whippin ta make up for it! Yugi still didn t look so confident. I don t know, I just have a bad feeling that those guys are going to come after us again. You don t know the half of it Yugi I thought, though I kept my mouth shut. As of yet it was still highly dangerous to share any information at all with those who were concerned by it. And there was still a long road ahead, and I knew that there would only be a few correct places to disperse the information. Too soon and they wouldn t believe me, I might even lose allies. Too late and the information wouldn t make a bit of difference, and I would definitely lose allies because they would lose their lives. But that didn t really matter then, because at the moment the tournament hadn t even started. I hope not that guy was pretty freaky. Anyway, I guess I better get going. I need to make some last-minute preparations for the tournament. I said, stretching a bit as I stood up straight. Yeah right, stupid. Like actually figuring out where the hell you re going to sleep during this damn tournament.

Yugi smiled a bit at that. Oh, you re in the Battle City Tournament too?

I smiled back at him. You know it! I wouldn t be caught dead out of this tournament I hope I get to see you in the finals!

Yeah, okay!

I waved goodbye to their group and slowly walked out, looking up at the sky and lightly humming to myself. Well what the hell do I do now?

~~Later~~

After managing to secure a hotel room reserved for Battle City duelists (and thank god for them accepting locator cards as proof of entry), I had spent the rest of the day staring blankly at the television, watching the news with about a tenth of my brainpower, while the rest of my mind focused on remembering what happened next. That damn Yugioh GX and the 5D s had been on so long I almost couldn t remember what happened next. I vaguely remembered a few duels between people like Joey, Mako Tsunami, and Weevil. But none of those people were associated with the Rare Hunters or Marik, and Mako wouldn t sign on with my evil twin for all he was worth. And now that I thought about it my evil twin should have been spotted by now. He was covered in blackness, and I didn t think that something like that might go unnoticed for too long.

But he was intelligent, I knew that since I don t want to brag but I wasn t exactly on the lower half of the intelligence scale. And I was almost certain that, if he became hard-pressed, he would be able to figure out a way to conceal it or, he might simply be disguised. After all, I had been granted a locator card not to mention the amazing duel disk, and the ability to duel in the Shadow Realm or at least I assumed I had that power. Either way though, a simple change of appearance to be slightly more inconspicuous was hardly a large gift compared to the things I had been given.

Even if I was lucky enough that he would be conspicuous among the humans of this world, he would still be able to disguise it somehow I was sure, and that meant that I had to out think him. To protect the characters of this world, and do my best to make sure that none of the innocents were harmed either. It would all have to come down to a winner-take all situation most likely, where there would be no escape from the outcome a very risky move, but as of yet the only way I could see to win.

Well no sense in worrying over this might as well make sure my mind is rested enough for dueling I muttered to nobody in particular. Nighty night Within the next few seconds, I had fallen asleep and fallen into bed in that order.

~~Meanwhile, somewhere across the city~~

Well, Kaiba now that I have access to your computers, lets see if you can be of some use to me. Computer, bring up the security cam for Hotel 23, Floor 5, Room 516.

A computer screen flashed for only a second or two before it brought up an image, of a certain fifteen year old boy snoring under the rather cushy blankets the hotel had so generously provided.

Good sleep away you fool while I prepare for your destruction, one move at a time

~~The next morning, Hotel 23, Floor 5, Room 516.~~

I slowly rose and stretched while still underneath the covers, feeling my muscles awaken from their long rest. Gah, I didn t mean to sleep so late. Oh well I looked at the alarm clock and realized I shouldn t have. I was jolted when I suddenly realized that it was well past ten o clock in the morning. Woah! I really must have slept hard or maybe it was just too late when I went to bed there s way too much to keep track of now. Though it was kind of pointless to be worried about time, as I didn t really have anything to do yet for awhile, and I just ended up half-watching the news while deep in thought again.

As the sun finally reached its peak in the sky after a very long night s rest, I could hear the rather loud announcements made by Kaiba about the Battle City Tournament rules. They didn t really concern me too much, after all I knew what they were and its not like Kaiba would know where I was, since I didn t even have a regulation Duel Disk. That was one of the other things that worried me Kaiba might try to force me out of the tournament since I wasn t even a registered duel disk but I was sure that with a little agitation he wouldn t be able to resist a good duel. As long as I proved myself in the tournament, I might stand a chance of dueling him even. Although, as much as I hated to admit it, it would be better to leave him alone so that he could do more good than simply having a duel with him and maybe even eliminating him from the tournament.

But all these thoughts were starting to bug me. I really needed to clear my head so I picked up the key to the room from off the desk and walked out of the room as the announcements for the tournament came to an end. Well I guess its time to start earning myself some locator cards. 


	7. Unwelcomed Interference

I found myself wondering exactly what would happen from then on, even though the fresh air had cleared a great many thoughts from my head. It was still all so new to me, even the very air I breathed in seemed to have a magical quality about it. At the same time as my mind was whirring around it was also calculating though… working in a frenzy already. I had been waiting for this opportunity for years, and I definitely would not screw it up. My mind was making sure that nothing could surprise me, even if my evil twin and a whole gaggle of Rare Hunters were to suddenly leap out of nowhere and attack me right then and there.

And yet I was still troubled. Why, some of you might be asking, why after all I had come through would I be troubled now even as I was thinking through the possibilities? Well, that's the reason right there. I was thinking through the possibilities. Nobody else even knew that there was a problem that could, at that very moment, be wreaking his own personal havoc throughout the city.

Knowing that if I kept up this heavy thought while walking I was almost certain to crash into someone or something and look like a complete moron, I took a seat on a nearby bench and did my absolute best to clear my thoughts. Everything around me finally made itself known, including a squirrel I had nearly sat on when I took my seat on the bench. It scampered away a little bit, but strangely enough it hardly seemed scared of me. When the next person walked by, however, it almost seem to jump when the man reached out and tried to touch it, scampering clear down the sidewalk and around a corner. I tried to get a good look at the man, but he was wearing a trench coat with the hood up, a hat on top of the hood, and shoes that were so overfitting I couldn't even get a look at his skin. The closest I came was seeing under his hood, but there wasn't enough light to see his face, I only got a vague outline of it.

I waited until he had passed out of my sight and then sighed to myself. "Weirdos will be weirdos." I muttered, then noticed as the squirrel came back around the corner and sat next to me again. "And you, my friend, are a weirdo of a squirrel..."

I reached out and to my surprise not only did it not run as it had from the man, but it came closer yet still to me. "Well, I don't mind having a companion… come on little guy." I said, lifting him onto my shoulder as I walked down the street once more. Nearby, I heard the sound of one of Kaiba Corp.'s many TVs blaring. "Early this morning, a hacker is said to have broken into Kaiba Corporation's mainframe computer and hacked into one of Domino City's many security cameras, the purpose is not yet known. When asked how this could happen, company owner Kaiba refused to comment. As for the weather today…"

Something sent a chill down my spine as the news reporter moved on to the next topic. I had probably missed a good portion of it, but it was still creepy enough to give me chills. And knowing he could've been watching anyone in the city from anywhere could've done the same thing to anyone. I looked up at a stop light and saw that there was a camera sitting in plain sight on top of the light. I shuddered, realizing that at even that moment Kaiba could be looking at me through it…

Regardless of my thoughts, I knew the important thing would be to move on. I stood up, the squirrel still perched on top of my shoulder. Once more I resumed walking, going around the corner that the squirrel had run so speedily down to distance himself from the trench coat man. And almost immediately, I stopped in my tracks.

Down the street a small distance the man was waiting again, I could tell it was him because there weren't many people wearing trench coats. But this time his hat was off, and I could see that underneath it, the hood he was wearing wasn't attached to his trench coat at all. He was wearing the robe and hood of a Rare Hunter.

What was even worse was that I recognized the tent. It was the tent Yugi would be dueling Arcana in even at that moment most likely, since his first opponent had been kind of eliminated already… by me… "Crap…" I thought, realizing that two Rare Hunters together might pose a bit more of a problem for Yugi. "Oh well… I needed more locator cards anyway…" I thought, immediately sprinting down the street towards the man. But, perhaps hearing my footsteps and perhaps simply realizing it was time, the man seemed to almost glide through the flaps of the tent and into the interior, where I knew there would be a box leading down to where Yugi and Arcana were currently dueling. But… what would the hunter be doing there? Even if Arcana were to need backup he wouldn't be able to follow him… or would he?

Since I had no idea how to find the building that Yugi was in anyway I decided that it was worth a shot. Rushing in, I had just enough time to spot the Rare Hunter pushing aside the box that had already fallen apart when Yugi went into it… to discover a secret passageway, different than the one Yugi had gone through when he went into the "magic box", but I could only guess it went to the same place. You know, maybe Yugi's friends should've done more than just stand there and say "Oh no, he disappeared!" when the box fell apart… I thought cynically to myself, before sighing and then watching as he quickly but carefully fast-walked down the steps.

Giving him a few seconds to get ahead of me, so that the sounds of my footsteps probably wouldn't be loud enough to be heard over his own, I quickly dashed out and looked down the passageway. I couldn't see much, as the stairs had no lights on them, but I could still hear the sound of his footsteps from farther down so I figured I might as well give it a shot and pray I didn't trip. Slower than him, but at a fairly decent pace, I began treading down the stairs. I noticed that these seemed poorly used, but I soon figured out why the Rare Hunter was not tripping. After little more than two dozen stairs, it leveled out into a hallway. I picked up a bit of speed here as I could hear the sound of him getting farther and farther away.

About halfway down the hall I started to hear another sound as well. Loud blasts, explosions, and a pair of voices just so faint that I couldn't make out who they were or what they were saying. The sounds of a duel. And from the sounds of it, it was getting close to the end. I recognized a few of the lines they were saying as I got closer, and I knew that the duel was at least nearing its close, if not already there. And then, suddenly, the voices grew extremely clear and the footsteps stopped. Paying more attention, I could see a light up ahead. A very dim light, but a light nonetheless. And that light was illuminating the outline of the Rare Hunter. I knew almost immediately what had happened; obviously he had removed a panel from up ahead to open a doorway into the dueling area.

Trailing behind as quietly as I could, I walked as far as I dared without making myself visible in the dark passageway. Just as I settled into position, I suddenly heard the lines that signaled the beginning of the end.

"Not so fast Arcana!"

"What's going on? My Dark Magic Curtain is working for you?"

"Yes, you should read the rules more closely. Its magic summoning power is available to both sides of the dueling field! That means I can drain half of my life points to summon a monster too. And I'll summon another Dark Magician too!"

At this point my focus was lost on the duel, as I could see the hunter pulling off his trench coat and discarding it on the floor. The floor was so slick that the coat slid all the way back to me, and as soon as it came within about a foot of me I heard a very light clatter of paws on floor as the squirrel ran away from me, or at least from the coat. I didn't know why he seemed to be so scared of it… but as I was thinking that I turned backwards and saw that yet again, he was only going so far away before turning around. I lifted the coat up and pushed it away from me, and he got a little closer. "Hm… seems to like me… but he hates anything to do with that guy… you don't think…" I began, but even before I finished the sentence I knew what must be happening. Looking up I saw the hunter pulling out a small device from his pocket, and reaching up and holding it near his face, finger poised above the button only waiting for something to happen.

"You call yourself a Dark Magician master? It was your disrespect and your misuse of your own Dark Magicians that caused you to lose this duel, Arcana!"

And suddenly I heard someone clapping. And then again. And a third time. I finally realized that it was the Rare Hunter out in front of me doing the clapping, as he slowly walked into the light. "Well played, well played Yugi. But I am afraid that it is your underestimation of how badly the Rare Hunters want you gone that will cause you to lose your life!" He said, and then suddenly pushed a button on the device, that I now realized was a remote control. I didn't know what it did, but I knew that it certainly wouldn't be good. And I was right. A metallic clicking sound followed, and Yugi's voice after that.

"Agh! What is this?"

Peeking out to the side of the Hunter, I could now see that there was an extra set of links on Yugi's legs, and these had no place to use a key on them.

"You may have won the duel…" the Rare Hunter said, pushing another button as he spoke. "But now you will lose Yugi… lose your mind to the shadow realm!" Suddenly, no doubt from the button he pushed, both shadow disks started moving towards their targets once more, even though Yugi still had lifepoints remaining. "Once you have been banished to the Shadow Realm the Hunters will claim your puzzle! You can't escape it, the only way to release those bonds is to use this switch! You will die Yugi… and then it will only be a matter of time before your friends fall too! Soon, all of battle city-"

He never ended up getting a chance to finish his sentence, as the entire time he had been talking I was slowly creeping up behind him. As soon as he revealed what the plan was, I shot up from my crouched position like a rocket, socking him in the back of his skull as hard as I could. He fell like a dead man, hitting the ground without even trying to catch himself. Pretty hard to do that when you're unconscious. I immediately reached out and grabbed the remote control, looking and seeing that there were only a few buttons and only one labeled "release", so it wasn't too hard to figure out which one was it. I pushed the button and the leg locks immediately released, but I realized that Yugi wouldn't have enough time to grab the key and release himself. "YUGI, get your legs out of that thing NOW!" I yelled, and praying that I was right in what I was about to do, I reached up and pushed the small button on the pendant hanging from my neck. Immediately my wings sprang to life, literally, once more from the designs on my shirt's sleeves. This time though I had something else in mind. I leaped in the air, hoping that Yugi was a fast reactor.

Yugi reached down into the box, pulling out his locator card and the key.

The shadow disk covered half the distance.

Yugi put the key into the first lock.

The shadow disk was within a foot of him.

He unlocked it and then pulled his leg free.

The shadow disk moved within half a foot of his still-locked in other foot…

And I came into the picture finally, jamming the wing on my right arm, the one not shaped like a duel disk and that I had never figured out what it was for, into the ground beneath Yugi's feet. Although it felt like it might be made of concrete, the wing quite easily sliced into it, and then the shadow realm disk hit it.

Rather than what I had thought might happen, such as my mind being sent to the shadow realm or the disk being only mildly slowed down before chewing through the wing and into Yugi's cuffs, perhaps before he could even get it off, something entirely different happened. The shadow disk did connect with the wing, but it didn't cut into it. In fact, it didn't even scratch it. The only sign of it even connecting was the blue sparks that were slowly flying off of the disk as it grinded on the wing, trying to get past it somehow.

Yugi barely hesitated seeing my action, pulling his second leg free as fast as he could, as though the disk was still bearing toward him. I pulled the wing out of the concrete and examined it more closely. I could now see that the edges were extremely sharp… and probably reinforced with shadow energy of some kind, if it was powerful enough to cut through concrete and it could stop the disk in time. I only hoped that it would be useful in the future as well.

"You okay Yugi?" I asked, prying myself off of the floor from the prone position I had been in, stretching every fiber of my being to make the wing reach its destination. He had never been down, but he did stand up from the crouched position he had been in unlocking the cuffs.

"Yeah… thank you. If you hadn't come along they would've gotten us for sure."

I smirked at that. "Just doing my job." Before he or I could talk anymore, however, our attention was drawn to the other side of the dueling ring where Arcana had been standing. He had freed himself, though, and rather than face the gruesome fate of the Shadow Realm his spare key had actually come in handy this time. But, even though he had saved his life with the key, his life was about to be taken.

"NO! Master Marik, please don't! I can defeat him next time! I promise! NOooooO!" He screamed, clutching his head as suddenly a glowing millennium symbol appeared on his forehead.

"Marik…" I said, clenching my fist, then realizing that without the Rare Hunter I defeated earlier, Yugi might not even know about Marik yet… well, actually, he would know about Marik, but not specifically who he was…

"I see you already know me…" I heard Arcana say, though there was no doubt that it was no longer Arcana behind the voice that now spoke. "But I believe I have yet to give YOU a formal introduction Pharoah. You see… I am Marik. These Rare Hunters are my minions, and though you have defeated two of them yet, they are nothing more than the weakest of my pawns! I will claim what I most desire from you yet!"

"You will never take my millennium puzzle, Marik!"

"Hm… you misunderstand. I want more than the power of the puzzle, I want the pharoah's power! The boundless energy of the ancient ruler himself! With it, no one will stand in my way! I will use the almight magic I have gained to conquer and rule the world! I will be unstoppable, the end is near Pharoah! It's my world now!"

"Not yet Marik. I am beginning to understand why Ishizu asked me to participate in Battle City. It's my destiny to stand between you and the evil powers you seek! And I will."

"Then your destiny is easier said than done, fool! Hmph. Pharoah, your days are numbered, so enjoy the game while you still can… because your reign is coming to an end! And as for you…" He said, the body turning towards me. "I have warned you once, yet you interfere in my plans again! You will no longer be spared, you will share in the Pharoah's fate!" He yelled, before finally the body crumpled to the floor, without a mind to guide it any more.

"Well… yet another insight into the insane mind of a power-hungry maniac, I suppose…" I thought, turning back to Yugi. "So… I guess that pretty much wraps things up here, eh?"

"Yeah… I guess…" He said, and I could tell by the difference in his voice… and the height difference… that he was back to regular Yugi again. "But tell me, why does Marik seem to have it out for you, too?"

"Yugi, to explain that would be… well, let's just say it's a long and complicated story that leads me to where I am now, which is not worried at all by Marik because I have someone bigger to aim for. Now, if you'll excuse me…" I said, walking off in the direction I had come from. But something else caught my eye even as I was walking on the other side of the arena from it. Inside the small box, where Arcana's key would've been released if he had won, something was glinting. The box had opened up at the end of the duel, resetting for the subsequent duel that would never come. I walked over, before realizing that what was glinting was only the key meant for Arcana's shackles, but there was something else. A single locator card.

"Well… I guess it really is my lucky day." I said, turning to see that Yugi's friends had just burst through the door.

"No need to attract unwanted attention yet… things need to go as smoothly and as parallel to the story as possible…" I thought, sneaking through the dimly-lit edge of the room to the stairway, replacing the panel on the wall behind me and slowly walking back down the hallway. I heard the door slam shut behind Yugi's friends as they, too, left the room.

~~At the same time, roughly three seconds after the panel is replaced and the door is shut, inside the room…~~

The Rare Hunter slowly sat up, standing from his position and rubbing the back of his skull. "Heh… good thing I was prepared for that or he might have actually knocked me out…" He muttered, before pulling back his hood… revealing a figure that even in the lighted up room was as black as the night itself, with a heart to match. My evil twin let out a slow, deep laugh. "Yes… you are playing right into my hands you fool. All that remains is to push you along in the direction I want a bit more, and then you can fall through the last pitfall and into the palm of my hand…" He said, and once more let out a deep laugh that echoed through the entire room…


	8. Heavy Winds Begin to Blow

As I began to finally wonder exactly what kind of powers had been bestowed upon me, I realized that my position wasn't exactly the safest. Somehow they had already figured out what hotel I had been staying at, which meant they might very well be tracking me at exactly that moment. So the only thing I could think of to be safe was to stay on the move. I immediately picked myself up off the ground – having fallen down realizing what had happened after my encounter with Marik – and began walking down the street.

So much had happened to me in such a little amount of time that I was more lost than I had ever been. Apparently my powers went beyond dueling, even to the point that Marik's Millenium Rod hadn't affected me; or at least not this time as far as I could tell. But it wasn't really MY power, it was the power of whatever amazing item I had been given. It made me wonder what else I was armed with to use against the evil powers gathering in this world… of course, that was the other thing that had me thinking. The evil powers were gathering, and far too quickly. Maybe my memory was wrong, but I couldn't recall Marik being here in Battle City this early…

I was thinking so much, in fact, that I hardly noticed when a young boy fell over backwards from around a corner in front of me, blocking my path and causing me to trip over him. "Hey, watch where you're going kid!" I yelled as I toppled over, though somehow I managed to roll on my back and shoulder to keep myself from being scraped all over so soon after having been healed from my incident with the Rare Hunters.

But he didn't seem to notice me, and as I turned around to see what he was doing falling over like that I noticed that he was a duelist, just a little younger than myself, with cards scattered over the ground, no doubt the result of a defeat by one of the stronger duelists. But when I looked over to where his opponent would've been standing, I saw that it was not a normal opponent he was facing, but a Rare Hunter.

"Well, it looks like your cards are as pathetic as I thought they would be!" He said, throwing the last of the boy's deck onto the ground, and beginning to walk off. Obviously the kid hadn't had anything the Rare Hunter even considered worth stealing.

"But… my locator cards… I was gonna be the champion!" The kid said, as he began collecting the scattered cards, barely holding back tears as he saw the condition the hunter had left some of them in as well as realizing his days in the tournament were over. My fist clenched almost unintentionally.

"Stop it right there scumbag!" I yelled at him, and almost immediately he turned around to see who the new voice had come from. "I don't know where you get off picking on weaker duelists like that, but it stops right here and now. Three locator cards and my rarest card, duel me. NOW." It was hardly dueling etiquette, or for that matter complete sentences, but I wasn't in the mood to toy around. Though some part of me was a little bit happy, not for what happened but for what I was making happen. This was why I had always wanted the powers that had been gifted to me… I wanted to right the wrongs that people committed, stop them before they happened if at all possible. Not revenge for those who had been wronged, for that was something evil.

It was justice, for all those who had and would be wronged by that person.

"Hmph, very well then. But since I didn't get anything of use out of that pathetic child I think I will take both of your two rarest cards to make up for it when I defeat you!"

"Sounds good to me…" I said, reaching up and pressing the button on the pendant I wore around my neck, feeling the familiar tingling as the seemingly 2-D wings on the sleeves of my coat lifted up and then spread wide, almost as though an actual birds wings grew from my elbows where the drawings started, though the one on my left arm actually resembled a duel disk rather than a wing. The shock on his face wasn't exactly hard to see, as his eyes were wide open and possibly even the slightest tinge of fear in his face. "Because I have no intention of losing! DUEL!

Life points:  
DJ: 4,000  
Rare Hunter: 4,000

I was mad enough that I couldn't wait to start things off immediately, so I picked a card out of the deck, not really caring what he thought of me taking the first turn, and took a look at my hand. It wasn't overly good; a couple of good cards but nothing ground-shaking. "Crap… I hope I get something to counter what ever ace in the hole this guy might have…" I muttered, as I drew two cards from my hand. "I play one card face down, and a monster in face-down defense mode. End turn."

He grinned as I declared the end of my turn. "Hah! A typical move, no doubt from a typically average player! This will be over faster than you could possibly imagine!" He proclaimed, pulling out a card from his deck. "This will do! I summon 'Warrior Dai Grepher'!" Even as he said it the monster appeared on his side of the field, a fearsome warrior with his sword at the ready. "Now, destroy his facedown monster!"

Warrior Dai Grepher  
ATK: 1700  
Def: 1600

The warrior leapt forth and slashed his sword into the virtual image of my facedown card, destroying the Harpie that I had left on the field to protect my life points. "First your pathetic beasts, and then I shall come after you yourself!" As he said that he began laughing, until I could take it no more and simply drew my card without retorting, though I do remember muttering something about 'idiotic ass-' before doing so.

I smiled as I saw what my next card was. "Ah, an old favorite of mine. I active the trap card Reckless Greed!" I said, playing the newly drawn card down on the field. "At the expense of my next two draw phases, I get to immediately draw two new cards!"

My opponent did nothing but smile for once. "Draw all the cards you like, play them all at once for all I care. You still won't be able to stop me!"

"Oh will you please just be quiet for FIVE SECONDS?" I yelled out as I drew the cards my trap allowed me to. They were good cards; just the kind that I would need in order to turn this duel around. "Okay, now that I can hear my self think, I set two more cards face down and summon Slate Warrior! And now that he's out, I think its about time I took revenge for my fallen Harpie Lady! Slate Warrior, take out that pathetic excuse for a monster!"

Slate Warrior:  
ATK: 1900  
DEF: 400

His warrior was instantly decimated, along with a very small chunk of his life points, which put me in the lead. I wasn't that confident though; an early lead – much less by 200 points – was hardly something to brag about. "Well then, I think that about wraps up my turn."

Life Points:  
DJ: 4,000  
Rare Hunter: 3,800

He was frowning when his turn started, but when he drew his next card I saw his eyes light up. "And this wraps up the short-lived life of your monster! I summon Goblin Attack Force, and destroy that thing you call a 'Warrior'!" His monster horde attacked on his command, completely overwhelming my creature and sending it to the graveyard, and destroying a chunk of my life points in the process. "And for good measure, I think I'll take care of those three face down cards you have! I activate Royal Decree, which negates the effects of all trap cards except itself, so good luck trying to ambush me now!"

Life Points:  
DJ: 3,600  
Rare Hunter: 3,800

Goblin Attack Force  
ATK: 2,300  
DEF: 0

"I take that as a challenge! I activate my first face-down card, Mystic Space Typhoon! It's a magic card, so not only does your card not even affect it, but yours is destroyed!" I said as the miniature castle shattered into a thousand shards and his field was that much emptier. "Plus, as the effect of my Slate Warrior you might want to take a closer look at your goblins!" Even as I said that I knew what he would do; look to his goblins and see that their attack was falling from 2300 to exactly 1800, leaving it as a much more destroyable creature.

"Hah, well my goblins automatically switch to defense mode in order to protect my life points anyway! Good luck getting through to me this round!"

"I thought I already made it clear I just love taking challenges." I said, though I wasn't entirely sure if he heard me. I was a bit nervous; the fact that I had no monsters on the field and the fact that I couldn't draw any cards was more than a bit unnerving. Especially since the last two cards in my hand couldn't be summoned as was… I needed something else. I sighed. "Since I can't draw another card until after my next turn, I pass."

"Hah! Perhaps you're not waiting for your next turn, but are simply realizing the futility of your efforts? Don't worry; your two rarest cards will be very happy sitting in the deck of such a master duelist as myself! I don't even need to summon another monster; but just to make sure you don't try anything sneaky with those last two cards and you seem intent on using them, I'll simply destroy them with this magic card! Heavy Storm wipes away all magic and trap cards on the field! Good luck handling these winds!"

But through the virtual storm that sprang up, even more clear than the monsters around us was the smile on my face. "I was sort've hoping you would do something like this. See, one of my facedown cards happens to be…" I said, reaching up and pushing the activation button on my duel disk for my powerful trap card, "the 'Judgement of Anubis' trap card! Your Heavy Storm is negated, and my third card survives."

"So what, one card isn't that much! If that was all your trap cards could do then I have nothing to fear after all!"  
"That's hardly the end of it. Anubis is feeling rather vengeful, so not only are my cards saved, but in the place of them one of your monsters gets destroyed! And since your Goblin Attack Force is the only one on the field, that leaves your side just as barren as my field. And on top of that, the 1800 attack points he has get deducted directly from your life points, which leaves you well behind me."

Life Points  
D.J: 3,600  
Rare Hunter: 2,000

He was down but not out, as he quickly got back to his feet after my card pushed him down to half his original life points. "Fine then… I end my turn."

"I have no choice; I pass again. Though it seems I don't need to use my own turns to defeat you, I've done plenty of damage simply by using your own cards against you…"

He clenched his fist and grit his teeth as hard as he could, but despite his anger he still seemed more than capable of continuing on in the fight. "You forget one key factor; without your precious monsters to defend you, your life points are wide open! I summon 'The Bistro Butcher', and attack your life points directly!

The Bistro Butcher  
ATK: 1800  
DEF: (Sorry, I don't know and don't have this card handy)

I could almost feel the cruel chef's knife piercing straight into my life points as mine were smote in half by the blow, but I knew that this was not the end, because of two things. "But I know the effect of your butcher, and because of his attack I can draw two cards from my deck! And now that your turn is over, my third turn since playing reckless greed has come and I can once more draw, so I have three new cards." I said, more than doubling the size of my hand in a single draw. Well… this couldn't work out much better if I had actually planned it that way. I thought to myself, before putting my plan into action.

Life Points  
D.J: 1,800  
Rare Hunter: 2,000

"I summon Lady Ninja Yae!" I imagined he hadn't heard about my earlier duel with his Rare Hunter companion because he didn't seem overly scared by the ninja that popped out of the card, though I had to admit she wasn't overly impressive when compared to the butcher standing before me. "But she won't be here very long, because thanks to my final facedown card, 'Ninjutsu Art of Transformation, I am able to summon forth a monster equal to her level plus three from my hand or deck by tributing the good lady!" My monster disappeared, but in her place an even stronger monster appeared. "Meet my good friend 'Swift Birdman Joe". He has more than enough attack points to blow your butcher's kitchen fires out in one move. Now go!" I yelled, my birdman flapping his wings and kicking up such a furious storm that the butcher's body blew away one virtual piece at a time. "And I end my turn."

Life Points  
D.J: 1,800  
Rare Hunter: 1,500

"Bah, your monster does not scare me! After all… when you consider what I am about to do it hardly compares!" He said, and that gave me a bit of a chill because usually people like this didn't overestimate the power of their cards – or at least not when you were stuck out there without a secret weapon like I clearly was. "I activate the card Graceful Charity, which allows me to-"

"Oh for gods sake, why do I get stuck with all the Rare Hunters who use the Graceful Charity and feel the need to explain it repeatedly! Just draw your cards already and duel!"

"Don't disrespect me, or the cards! You'll have plenty to worry about soon enough anyway. Because with that card, I drew my Monster Reborn. And using it, I revive my Goblin Attack Force, and equip it with the second card I drew, my "Sword of Deep-seated, boosting its attack power a full 500 points above your monster, sealing its doom!" Sadly, this was true and within a second my Birdman Joe had been obliterated off of the field.

Goblin Attack Force  
ATK: 2800  
DEF: 0

Life Points:  
D.J: 1,300  
Rare Hunter: 1500

I gritted my teeth as he started laughing again, but I wasn't really angry at him. He was evil and I was there to stop him from ever doing something like that again, but it was only in the name of justice and not revenge, so I found myself no longer feeling total rage towards him as I had at the beginning of the duel. But as I looked at the card in my hand and combined it with what was already there, I realized… this duel was over. "I think its about time we both stopped kidding around and ended this. I'm about to activate a game-winning combo!" I said, pulling out two cards from my hand of four and setting them on the field. "First off, I activate Call of the Haunted, bringing back Harpie Lady 2 from the beginning of the duel. And then, I activate Elegant Egotist to summon 'Harpie Lady Sisters' from my deck, since my harpie is now on the field to summon with!"

Harpie Lady Sisters  
ATK: 1950  
DEF: 2100

Harpie Lady 2  
ATK: 1300  
DEF: 1400

"So what? Neither of them has enough of a punch to penetrate my Goblin's awesome attacking strength!"

I grinned at that and pointed onto his field. "You forget; I don't have to penetrate your goblin's attack strength. Just their pathetic defense score."

"Oh, no!" He yelled out as he looked out on the field and saw his many sleeping goblins totally unprepared for the assault I was about to lay on them.

"Now, Harpie Lady 2, destroy his Goblin menace!" My monster flew forward in a dive-bombing maneuver, scratching her talons all over the sleeping goblins and totally decimating them. "And now for the killing blow… Harpie Lady Sisters, take it away so we can get the hell out of here." The sisters went screeching into battle, clawing their way through what little life points he had left and ending the duel once and for all.

As he sank to his knees and clutched his head in defeat, I walked forward and claimed the three locator cards from his hand… realizing a second too late that it wasn't the defeat I had just dealt him that was making him clutch his head, but the glowing millennium symbol atop his forehead. The man's hand grasped my forearm before I could recoil, and suddenly I was staring into the face of yet another puppet of Marik. "You…" was all he said, and despite the position I was in I could think of nothing else to say but "Me."

"You have interfered in my plans for the last time. Your power interests me, and though it is nothing compared to the Pharoah's I shall certainly enjoy ripping it from you as soon as we meet. I know you just took the locator cards from this hunter… and I look forward to meeting you face-to-face again in the finals. I promise you my men will not attack you unless you provoke them as you have just done… I want to see your powers once more, in person. Good luck… you'll need it if you want to survive." So saying, the man went limp and fell to the ground dead.

I brushed myself off of him, doing a small prayer to the gods that had sent me to is world in the first place to do fair justice to him. That man really needs to think of a way to contact me that doesn't end in so many deaths… I thought inwardly, before turning around to see where the child who had lost his locator cards had gone. But to my surprise, the crowd that had gathered to watch the duel did not include the boy who I had seen before. "He didn't want his cards back…?" I said to nobody in particular, but as the crowd dispersed I simply decided to head back to the duelist's hotel… for some odd reason I actually believed Marik's words, and I really needed some sleep.

~~Meanwhile, across the city~~

A Rare Hunter bowed before Marik, who was looking more than just a little bit displeased at him. "You have failed me once again; your hunters and traps alike have left both Yugi Moto and his newest friend alive and completely capable of standing in the way of my ultimate goal!"

The Hunter's head bowed lower, if that was even possible. "Forgive me lord Marik, I have underestimated the power of this young boy. Give me another chance and I shall prove myself a most worthy asset both now and after you acquire the Pharoah's power when you defeat Yugi.

Marik's face didn't change, but he seemed to lighten ever so slightly on the man. "Hmph. Very well. I have killed on the first failure though; so don't think another one will go so easily overlooked as these last ones. You had better not fail me again, or there WILL be dire consequences next time." With that Marik turned and, accompanied by Odion, left the room.  
"Mehehehe…" the Hunter cackled, as he slowly slid back his hood to reveal black skin… pitch black, painted black, the skin of the purest being in the universe… the purest evil, at any rate. "You think you're so intimidating Marik. Well, my plans haven't failed me yet. Everything is going exactly as I had planned originally… you and that fool of a counterpart of mine will both be out of my way soon enough, and then we shall see who will be taking the Pharoah's power…"

_**What is D.J.'s Evil Twin's plan if he meant to fail these last few attempts? Why is he working for Marik? And is DJ truly safe… can Marik's word be trusted? Find out in the next chapter!**_


	9. Thunder Strikes

"Ahhhh… I never realized how good a night's rest without worrying that somebody out might try to kill you in your sleep could be." I said, lounging back on the bed and kicking out a little. I wasn't overly worried about the fact that I should probably be doing something; after all, Marik had promised my safety and thanks to my risky gambit I had the six locator cards I would need to get into the finals already. And more importantly I had proved myself; I knew now that even though I would probably never be as good a duelist as the others were, I could certainly hold my own in a contest of skills.

I looked out the window straight ahead down the street (because even though I believed Marik would not try to kill me I had requested a room on the second floor, away from the rocky pond just in case), and in the distance I could make out the flashy lights of duels going on. I was now a protector of this entire city… I had to stop the people here from being harmed by the hunters; I had made no promise to Marik not to interfere, after all. And I had to ensure that nobody came to harm because of the interventions of my evil twin.

But I didn't really have too much to worry about; after all the Rare Hunters never really made their move for awhile, not until after Marik… had… arrived in Battle City…  
"Sh*t!" I yelled, leaping out of my bed and throwing on my clothes faster than a woman who wakes up next to a fat man after a night of heavy drinking. Marik was already in Battle City; that much had been proved when he had had me taken to his hideout when his hunters kidnapped me. And that meant that he would be much more likely to kidnap Yugi's friends and make moves long before he had in the canon. There was serious risk in there; and I had to act quickly.

Although I tried not to make a scene I was sure I caught a few glances as I hit Mach Three leaving the hotel room, heading out towards the area of the city I had last seen Yugi and friends at. If they weren't helped soon then the Rare Hunters would kidnap them just like before, and if that happened then with my evil twin's interference they just might perish. I would NOT allow that to happen. Especially since I was the one who had been stupid enough to not realize that Marik arriving this early could only mean he was planning to move earlier than before.

As I reached the hotel that I thought they were staying at and confronted a very shocked manager about whether or not he had seen a spiky haired boy and his pals recently, I realized somewhere in my brain that since the tournament was going on they were very likely to be out in the city dueling their way to six locator cards, since I doubted the story had altered enough that they would have already gotten all the cards that they needed. Without even waiting for him to recover his wits enough to reply to my flurry of questions I turned around and burst out the door. Great, I thought, that manager won't think im insane at all…  
I had much bigger problems on my mind, though, because when I got outside I realized that if they were somewhere in the city. Domino City was huge, and there was no way I would be able to find a group of four people, much less four individuals if they had split up. I was at my wits end trying to think up ways to locate them… until I spotted a very familiar figure fast-walking down the street… tossing a set of dice in the air.

"Duke… err… Mr. Devlin!" I yelled out, trying to get his attention as I ran up behind him, causing him to sigh and turn around to face his pursuer.

"Sorry, kid, I've got no time for autographs right now, I am on my way to find Yugi Moto."

I looked him dead in the eyes. He had no idea who I was or what ties I had to Yugi and his friends, so there wasn't much I could do to get this guy to let me tag along unless I made it perfectly clear that he had no choice in the matter.  
"Listen, Duke if I may, I know you don't know who I am, but I think Yugi and his friends might be in serious danger if we don't get to them soon. And by soon, I mean about five friggin' minutes ago."

He seemed divided. Half of him seemed to think I was crazy, half looked afraid for his friends, and a third half I don't know where the heck even came from looked like he wanted to call the cops right then and there.

"You're right; I don't know who you are. But you sound like you know what you're talking about so we better get going. I just called Yugi, so he'll be waiting for us at Domino Park."  
"Right, let's move it!" I yelled behind me, since as soon as he said Domino Park I was already on the move and he was well behind me, though he pretty easily kept pace once we were on our way.

~~One tiring run later~~

Duke had passed me halfway to the park since I was not in quite so good a shape as him, but he was still in sight when we finally rounded the turn and ran into Yugi, who was leaning up against a tree waiting for us… or at least for Duke.

"Oh, hey Duke! You said you were on the other side of the town so I thought you'd be a bit longer… hey, why did you run all this way anyway?" Yugi asked, concern written across his face.

"Can't explain… ask him…" Duke said between pants, pointing backwards to where I was finally catching up to him as well, leaning down and putting my hands on my knees to steady myself while I caught my breath. "He said… there might be trouble…"

Yugi took one look at me and immediately recognized me from before. "Hey, its you! Where did you go off to last time? I never even got to thank you for saving my life, and I still want to ask you a few questions." Obviously he had not forgotten the fact that Marik seemed to be just as angry with me as he had been with Yugi himself, and how I had known where to find Yugi.

"Listen… there's no time to ask questions… where are your-" But before I could finish my sentence, I was cut off by a loud and unmistakable voice from behind me.

"Yugi! I finally tracked you down, so prepare to duel and lose that Egyptian God Card of yours!"

Turning around, I saw who I knew I would. None other than Seto Kaiba, standing in front of me looking for all the world as the anime character I had seen so often on television. And I couldn't help but do something I'd always wanted to do.

"Back off Kaiba! We're a little bit busy right now!" Yeah, I backmouthed him. I just couldn't help myself.

"Hah! I don't concern myself with weaklings as pathetic as you, so I suggest that you step aside while the real duelists have their battle!"

I had just begun to yell back my retort, concerning his ancestry and something about his mother, when all of a sudden a little blur came out of nowhere and started yelling out at him. "Seto! SETO! Bad news!"

Just from the way he spoke I could tell it was Mokuba before he even got there. But as to what he was doing here, I could only guess that the reason was hardly good. After all; I couldn't remember anything of importance happening to him until he got kidnapped.

"Listen, Joey's Duel Disk just disappeared off the radar! And when I tried to use the number to page his duel disk I couldn't get through to it!"

Kaiba seemed hardly phased by the news, despite Yugi and Mokuba's look of concern, and simply proceeded to stroll down non-chalantly toward Yugi. "You heard the boy, Yugi! If you want to find out where your friend is then I suggest that you duel me quickly."

Yugi was obviously slightly annoyed by this latest comment, but his concern for his friends was even greater. "Sorry, Kaiba, but right now finding my friends is more important."  
I took the brief pause in the conversation as my chance to finish my earlier question. "Yugi, do you have any idea where your friends are?"

He shook his head sadly. "No, and when one of the Rare Hunters I defeated was possessed he threatened that soon they would become slaves like the hunter!"

My tension was visible. "Yugi, call your friends. I think we may have a serious problem on our hands."

While Yugi was dialing I was busy turning back to Kaiba. Whether I was supposed to be helping Yugi and friends or not, at the moment I would rather knock Kaiba down a few pegs than I would help him. "If you want to duel someone so badly then pick someone who's friends don't need them! I'll be glad to topple that massive ego of yours, rich boy!"

He glared at me with a look that could melt the polar ice caps. "If you don't stand aside and let me duel Yugi then I'll have no choice but to take you up on that offer, and show you just how poor your dueling skills really are. Now back down."

I returned his gaze, but before anything else could be said I heard Yugi speaking from behind me. "Kaiba, back off! If my friends are in danger your duel can wait!"

Needless to say, this did little to calm Kaiba down, particularly since he now knew that he would not be dueling for quite some time; longer still unless he actually agreed to help us. "Fine then! Mokuba!" He yelled, turning to his younger brother.

"Got it, Seto! I'll go back to headquarters and see if I can get a lock on his duel disk using the scanner!" Without another word he dashed off in what direction I couldn't guess because I didn't see any big skyscrapers or such off in that direction; but what did I know? After all I wouldn't totally cast off the idea that they would build an HQ underground just to avoid being conspicuous.

"As for you three… let's get going, because the sooner we help out your friends the sooner I can defeat Yugi!"  
Im not sure what was more annoying; that he wouldn't leave the whole "Duel me, Yugi!" Thing alone for more than a sentence or two, or the fact that he assumed he could actually defeat Yugi. But somehow, we actually managed to start searching the city without any… okay, without many more verbal interruptions.

~~Meanwhile~~

"Gotta get back to work! Big brother really wants to duel Yugi!" Mokuba said as he sprinted down a side alley that connected to where the headquarters for Kaiba's dueling monitors. He was only a few seconds away from entering the complex… so close… but out of sight, and just too far away.

The heavy briefcase really wasn't much help in his defense, as a foot reached out from behind a dumpster and tripped him up, causing him to fall flat on his face on the hard pavement, the briefcase scattering across the alleyway and almost into the street.

A figure stepped out from behind the dumpster… a pitch-black figure. "Sorry, kid… but I need to use your appearance for a bit and I can't have you messing this up for me. Ah, who am I kidding. I'm not sorry." With a wicked smile he reached down and tapped Mokuba on the forehead… and sending him spiraling into unconsciousness with that light tap. And suddenly the dark form lost its shape, melting and moving around itself to form a new appearance… one that was identical to Mokuba in every way.

"Now it's time to pay your brother a visit."

_What is this newfound power that DJ's Evil Twin exhibits? What does it mean for Yugi and the Gang? Find out in the next chapter!_


End file.
